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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Great Cake Mystery - Alexander McCall Smith, Iain McIntosh

The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith, Illustrations by Iain McIntosh
The author has a bestselling mystery series called The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency. The stories are quaint and a whole lot of fun. Since I am a fan of the series, I was excited to discover that the author wrote an early chapter featuring Precious Ramostswe, the detective in the series, in her very first case.

In The Great Cake Mystery, readers are introduced to a young Precious Ramotswe who like her adult self lives in Botswana. Precious loves to listen to her dad's stories, but she can always tell when it starts turning into a tall tale. Precious pays attention and listens she knows when someone isn't telling the truth. These are two very important skills for a detective. When Precious's dad suggest she become a detective, she thinks its a good idea.

When food starts going missing at school, Precious gets are first case must sooner than expected. Everyone in the class but Precious, believe a boy named Polowko is the thief. Precious knows he's innocent and must prove it to clear his name.

I very much enjoyed this introduction to a young Precious Ramostswe. McIntosh wonderful illustrations and the short chapters make this an excellent for young readers who are mystery fans and new to chapter books